Democratic-aligned health care advocacy groups are putting together a strategy to fight Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be Health and Human Services secretary.
During an organizing call on Monday, the details of which have not been reported publicly, more than 200 people from several dozen of those groups, along with other advocacy organizations, discussed strategies to oppose Kennedy’s nomination. That included which Republican senators to target and the most effective way to talk to them, according to Brad Woodhouse, executive director of Protect Our Care.
“We’re nowhere near conceding he’s going to be the next HHS secretary,” he said.
On the call, Woodhouse’s organization launched a new “Stop RFK War Room” effort focused on persuading not only GOP moderates like Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, but others like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who survived polio, or Sen. Tom Tillis of North Carolina, who is up for reelection in 2026. Normally, the group would be prioritizing its lame-duck work, but it sees Kennedy as such a serious threat that it’s starting now and delaying its lame duck work until after Thanksgiving, Woodhouse said.
